House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) led a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to reconsider his threat to veto Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121 Congressional Review Act (CRA) which passed the Senate and House with strong bipartisan support.
“Given the overwhelming bipartisan votes, we urge you to sign H.J. Res. 109 into law or work with the SEC to rescind the staff guidance,” said the lawmakers. “Rescinding SAB 121 is well within the SEC’s authority and there is ample precedent for revisiting a staff accounting bulletin. In fact, most staff accounting bulletins over the last three decades have been revisions and recissions of prior guidance.”
This CRA resolution protects the foundation of essential custody services, protects consumers from increased bankruptcy risk and passed both chambers of Congress with strong bipartisan support.
Reps. French Hill (R-AR), Andy Barr (R-KY), Tom Emmer (R-MN), Mike Flood (R-NE), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Wiley Nickel (D-NC), and Dan Meuser (R-PA) joined McHenry and Lummis in sending the letter.
Read the full letter here.
Background:
On November 15, 2023, Chairman McHenry, Senator Lummis, Representative Mike Flood (R-NE), and Representative Wiley Nickel (D-NC) sent a letter alongside Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Representatives French Hill (R-AR) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY) to the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Currency and the National Credit Union Administration (prudential regulators) urging them to clarify through guidance or other action that SAB 121 is not enforceable after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that it is a rule for purposes of the Congressional Review Act.
On February 1, 2024 Senator Lummis alongside Representatives Flood and Nickel introduced a bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Staff Accounting Bulletin 121.
The House passed the CRA resolution earlier this month by a vote of 228–182, and the resolution passed the Senate by a vote of 60-38. This marks the first time both chambers of Congress have passed standalone crypto legislation.
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